Author: Paul Wood — worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC for 25 years: in Belgrade, Athens, Cairo, Jerusalem, Kabul, and Washington. He has received numerous awards, including two American Emmy Awards for coverage of the civil war in Syria.
A recent court case in Manhattan, initiated by the relatives of the victims of the attacks, has revealed new facts indicating Saudi Arabia's involvement in the preparation of the attack. The plaintiffs are convinced that the kingdom's government was involved in organizing the attack from the very beginning, and that the American authorities turned a blind eye to it.
At the same time, Tucker Carlson's documentary titled The 9/11 Files makes another accusation: Carlson claims that Saudi agents embedded in Al-Qaeda provided significant assistance to the hijackers. In his opinion, the CIA was aware of this operation and may have even overseen it, and then attempted to cover up the truth after the September 11 attacks.
So far, the most important revelations are being heard in the Southern District Court of New York, where the families of the victims have filed a lawsuit against the government of Saudi Arabia. One of the plaintiffs is Terry Strada, who lost her husband Tom, who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the North Tower. She now heads the organization 9/11 Families United, which brings together relatives of the deceased and survivors.
“We understand that we were deceived,” says Strada, “and we are confident that Saudi Arabia financed these attacks.”
Recently, a federal judge dismissed the Saudis' motion to dismiss the case, agreeing that the evidence presented is sufficient to continue the proceedings. At the hearings, the plaintiffs' lawyers revealed how Saudi Arabia was creating a network of Islamic extremists around the world in the 1990s. After studying thousands of documents, they claim to have identified more than fifty agents who were sent to the U.S. to support Sunni jihadists.
Strada lists the cities where these agents operated: Falls Church (Virginia), Paterson (New Jersey), Scottsdale (Arizona), Minneapolis and St. Paul (Minnesota), Vero Beach (Florida).
“They had people in every city. It’s shocking,” she adds.
An interesting fact: one of the Saudi families in Sarasota, Florida, which, according to Strada, “clearly assisted the hijackers,” disappeared just two weeks before the tragedy, leaving food in the refrigerator and cars in the driveway. Strada claims that the Saudis knew about the impending attack, as they were the ones who organized it.
A key figure in this story is Saudi government official Omar al-Bayoumi, who moved to California in 1994, posing as a student, although he hardly attended classes. In 2000, he met two Al-Qaeda militants who later became hijackers. Al-Bayoumi provided them with financial and housing support — he invited them to live with him in San Diego and helped them rent an apartment.
The official report of the 9/11 Commission stated that al-Bayoumi acted unwittingly. However, a new investigation has revealed more compromising facts. In particular, during a search of his home in Birmingham, an address book, video recordings, and documents were found, which lawyers believe are key to uncovering his role in 9/11.
In one of the videos, he is captured in the U.S. Capitol in 1999, focusing on entrances and exits, as well as security routes. An expert witness described this as “a reconnaissance of the target before the attack.” One of the findings was a yellow notebook with a drawing of an airplane and mathematical calculations, which was analyzed only ten years after the attacks.
The Saudi defense claimed that this was a school assignment of al-Bayoumi's son. He himself admitted that it was his handwriting but explained: “It could be an equation we were studying in school.” When asked why he needed to calculate the height of an airplane, he replied: “It’s an equation, like any other.”
Al-Bayoumi claimed that his meetings with Al-Qaeda members were coincidental, but the investigator noted: “You are either extremely unlucky, or you are involved in this.” British authorities considered extradition, but the U.S. insisted on his release. One officer later said: “I’m shocked. I would have just blown him to pieces with such evidence.”
Lawyers claim that the Saudis secured his release by using their connections in the American authorities. When it was discovered that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, the royal family took active measures to cover up their involvement.
Lawyers continue to insist on access to diplomatic correspondence that could confirm their suspicions. They argue that Saudi Arabia tried to convince Washington of the need for military support in the “war on terror” and the preparation for the invasion of Iraq, which essentially created a joint cover-up to hide “the direct line of responsibility leading to Riyadh.”
In The 9/11 Files, Tucker Carlson expresses the opinion that the George W. Bush administration was interested in burying the case. According to him, the official version of events is a “lie,” as the CIA tracked two Al-Qaeda members from the moment they arrived in the U.S. — the very ones that al-Bayoumi sheltered.
The CIA did not pass this information to the FBI, as it used the Saudis in its operation to monitor Al-Qaeda. Former FBI agent Mark Rossini described this as a “crazy plan,” resulting in terrorists being protected from law enforcement.
“You are tracking two people around the world, they land in Los Angeles, and you don’t inform the FBI… You were supposed to protect Americans, and you failed your mission due to your delusions,” he noted.
The CIA is prohibited from spying on U.S. soil, but according to Carlson, it used al-Bayoumi as an intermediary. Declassified materials show that significant sums were transferred to him through the embassy, as well as from the accounts of the Saudi ambassador's wife.
In Carlson's view, the CIA used the Saudis to recruit the hijackers, providing itself with an alibi in case of failure, which ultimately occurred. The 9/11 Commission did not mention this version, and Carlson claims that the CIA obstructed the testimony of the operation's leader.
Terry Strada does not believe in coincidences. If the CIA operation went out of control, then why were no public accusations made against Saudi Arabia?
“On the contrary, they did everything to protect the Saudis,” she asserts.
Strada believes that this is not about a failed operation, but a broader conspiracy related to the fact that September 11 could have been planned by one of America's closest allies.
The Saudi royal family vehemently denies any connection of its government to the attacks. Nevertheless, new facts may lead to further investigations both in the U.S. Congress and beyond. This evidence raises many questions, and as the author notes, the Saudi government should indeed be wary of the consequences.
